Reptile & Amphibian Forums

FYI, I lost a female WC import today. She was a little weak when I got her, dehydration was the main cause as well as a heavy bacterial infection. I was very upset to discover her being gravid as well. Not full term but none the less gravid. I was hoping she would have been much farther along. Sad to see another one bite the dust. I've lost 1.1 fimbriatus in two months. Yes I its easy to brush off death, I've worked in animal research for several years. now I just have 5 healthy one to work with with.

Which btw, I was just hired by California Institute of Technology to do animal husbandry there working in the behavioral sciences department. For those of you who are not familiar with Caltech, you may have heard of them by the name Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL). They are known for the Pathfinder Rovers on Mars.

cheers
Jason

Something to keep in mind when buying Uroplatus:

We know they come in dehydrated, malnourished, and full of unwanted organisms which equals a lot of stress. Add in being gravid, and most of these poor animals doesnt have a chance... I would even go so far as to assume this is very likely part of the reason Uroplatus are so male heavy, especially in LTC animals. When buying imports, I realize its attractive to buy them gravid, but most of the time, the eggs dont hatch anyway, and then you lose the female to boot...

I specifically ask for them not to be gravid when buying, and the survival rate of the animals is phenomenally better. There are very few things more irritating than nursing a heavily gravid female along for a few weeks only to have her appear in good shape, lay and die 2 days later. The last scenario is terribly common in many WC animals...

Something to keep in mind when buying

-L
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www.wildeyereptiles.com

Chameleons, geckos & invertebrates

When i placed my order, i requested females that had thick tail basesbecause of that reason. She just happened to be one of the "lucky" ones according to my supplier. time to give them a shower.

cheers
jason

jason, its sad to hear about the 2nd loss. i dont know if its the same for anyone else, but i seem to have higher mortality in the winter. last year i lost my first male phant over the winter break, and this year i lost a seemingly very healthy female phant near thanksgiving and my male henk less than a week ago. thats not even to mention the other 2 females i had die on me when i ordered them from the classifieds here. :

Its a darn shame.
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Eve / PHEve

sounds like a cool job! good luck with it and good luck with the rest of the fimbriatus

I think it will be. I'm pretty juiced. Its been a while since I've had a strong position like that one. I'm hoping i don't lose anymore of them. I've 40 total left, lets hope theres some good luck this time around.

cheers
Jason

forgot to mention, congrats on the new job! ill be graduating in may, and i've been keeping my eyes open for entry-level zookeeper and curator positions, i'd really like to be involved in husbandry as well. hope you have as much fun out of it as it sounds you will.

Don't know if you had heard this, but the single best way to get a paid job in the public zoo/aquarium field is to volunteer at one - in the animal care dept if possible. I work at a zoo and probably 60% of our Aquarium staff had volunteered somewhere at some point. The last Aquarium I worked at, fully 90% of the husbandry staff had volunteered or interned before getting their paid position.

Check AZA.org for job postings too.

Good luck in your search!

that's exactly where i've been looking. unfortunately, i had one of those BS kinda jobs for a year during school, and i was really wanting to volunteer at the local museum but i just didnt have the time. there have been tons of jobs to apply for on AZA, but i've really got to get some volunteer experience, and this summer after i graduate while my lease runs out is my best chance. the other problem is that many of the positions im interested in require you already to have the degree at hand, its not like they are putting up positions now that they will be hiring for in may. so im keeping my eyes open, looking for whats out there, and im gonna work up a new resume that will hopefully work out. we'll see how it goes, and im sure you guys will eventually hear about it.

sorry for getting off topic!

Mike,

Have you thought about doing work in one of the labs on campus. If you school does any kind of animal research work, its a great way to get into the zoo field, your school may have some kind of herp program or behavior studies thing using primates or something. Check it out, you may find something you never thought of. Also, if they do, you can get AALAS certifications that can help lead you down into zoo work as well.

Cheers
jason